It was a completely different world back then. I'm not justifying it, but it was the way it was.

I grew up in the 80s.

I used to draw a lot, make comics, recreate the covers of my favorite music albums, etc. I also liked to record whatever thing I thought was funny in cassette tapes.

Back then, I didn't have the mindset like "I should archive this. Who knows when I will need it!"

I my Commodore ViC-20 games and programs, stuff I wrote, in cassette tapes too. I had a notebook detailing my projects, etc. Again, no "let's back this up or store it with me for years to come."

When it was time to dispose of things, you just..... did. Or reused the cassettes, or the notebooks or whatever.

Granted, my use case is way different from that of a government with nuclear warheads. But yup. Different time, different world, different mindsets.